I've read that the cleanliness of the factory is a big factor in battery quality. So buying high quality from a well known brand is a good idea.

I heard a few years ago that Apple strong-arms their battery suppliers to agree to take on the cost of battery replacement. Maybe it's not admirable, but it's an incentive for the suppliers to do the best they can. It's one of the several reasons why Apple prices are high.

There was a run of Macbook Pros that had batteries that would swell up. My father in law's computer suffered that, so I took it in to the Apple store for him. The staff there didn't even want to talk about it. They very quickly gave me the replacement, no questions asked. Those things were real combustion dangers. Of course, that was when batteries were user-replaceable.

I'm sure it's true, as Tourist in MSN says, fancier electronics contribute to better battery management.

I was also annoyed at the trend of batteries no longer being replaceable, but now, a few years later, I've seen the upsides, and I no longer grumble about it. It's still possible to find a technician who can do it on at least a few gadgets.

A few years ago, someone here alerted us to a cheap Chinese headlight that purported to provide a German-law-compliant beam shape. It was about $9. I bought about 8 of them. About two turned out to have defective batteries. Overall, I'm happy with my decision, though I won't use that strategy anymore. I'll just buy known high quality, since it's usually a good value.

I think Cher had similar issues

To my knowledge Garmin connect only works with Garmin devices.

The way a lot of apps and many other things have went to a subscription service is nothing more than a money grab.

Used to be able to buy Photoshop and AutoCad and many other software programs for a one time fee and upgrade at your leisure. Now we are forced into subscription based service from these companies. It's complete and utter bullspit.

It's definitely not for everyone. And it's more than $6/month since I have multiple apps.

We the consumer are the ones getting taken advantage with the subscription based services. Years ago I paid for Navionics for my phone and it was $20 or $30 for the premium version. I used it for fishing. Then they upgraded their software and went to the subscription based service and I lost what I paid for. I contacted them via email and complained and they basically told me to go pounds sand and I was out of luck. That's bad business.

Also a user of AutoCad and Photoshop. Buy it once and upgrade at my leisure is what I used to do. Don't need the newest version every year or so. But no...have to pay monthly subscription for these now. No thanks.

Well that depends on whether or not you value the service and want it to continue rather than become abandonware. It’s hard to imagine how a company could survive selling $30 premium software today.

Subscription based software has only become a thing within the last 5 years or so. Prior to that you paid a one time fee for apps or software. Then the companies became greedy.

I've been using AutoCad since the late 80's and Photoshop since the early 90s. Initially you paid a one time fee for the software. If you wanted to pay for the newest version great. If you wanted to wait a few releases and upgrade great. I would often skip 2-3 upgrades of the software and upgrade at my leisure. Point being these software companies did not go out of business just because it wasn't subscription based. They got greedy.

I have a weather radar app on my phone. I paid a one time fee so I don't have to deal with ads. If they go to a subscription based program I'm out.

I've been using Adobe Photoshop and other parts of the Creative Suite since the 1990s - Illustrator, Premiere Pro, etc. Back then, I'd avoid upgrading the software each year because the cost was prohibitive - especially since I used Mac and PC on multiple computers. But I'd eventually have to in order to stay compatible with other people that I worked with. Same with Microsoft Office. Back then, I'd have to upgrade every other year or else I'd fall behind the folks that I worked and collaborated with.

These days, I'm saving time and money with the subscription model running on multiple computers. Regular updates without having to buy again. No worries about receiving a file that I can't work with.

I think I already mentioned in this thread that a Windows Update broke my Microsoft Office. Called them, their tech support said that I must buy the new office. No, I chose not to. When a Microsoft Windows Update breaks my Microsoft Office, I would be an idiot to financially reward Microsoft for breaking it.

I am retired, my home computer needs are pretty basic. Looked for a competitor, found WPS software, a lifetime fee for a bare bones version that was missing a lot of functionality looked pretty good when it had all of the functionality that I wanted. I am still using it, now on a Windows 11 machine. Every once in a while they update it and add a daily pop up suggesting I upgrade to the subscription version, which I ignore. Quite frankly I wish they would stop updating WPS, some of the updates meant that I could not do things exactly the way I used to. I do not think they offer the lifetime bare bones version for a single fee any more.

I wish my old Lotus 123 still ran. I liked that a lot more than Excel or the WPS equivalent to Excel.

Did they really get greedy or just realise that $20 lifetime software is not sustainable? There are lots of legit reasons (not greed based) why software might move to a subscription model, often tiered with a free basic version. It’s for the market to decide whether or not the software is worth paying for. You are using the “greed” card to justify your own freeloading, which is pretty hypocritical.

I used the free Strava App years ago when all the premium features were still included, but it was obvious that it was not sustainable long term. Now I pay about £50 per year for the premium version, which I think is reasonable value and keeps improving year on year.

I’m curious how old your MS Office was when the Windows update eventually bricked it? If the OS had to support legacy software forever then we would all be still stuck in the 1990s. Regular OS updates are important for both performance and security. You might not personally want any of those improvements, but most others do.

There are open source alternatives to MS Office. You might want to look into them. These days, I only license MS Office to stay compatible with folks that I work with. Most of my writing is happening in Scrivener, Google Docs, or Joplin.

I pay for Strava too. It's pretty common practice to start out as free in order to build a user base and then move to a subscription model.

That said, when I retire, I'll be evaluating all of my subscriptions and look for open source alternatives. I'll still support the development teams either through subscription or donation or purchase, but it will likely be less than the mainstream options.

I ended up looking for Open Source software to get around that crap. OpenOffice or LibreOffice replaces Microsoft Office. Gimp replaces Photoshop. All FREE!

https://www.openoffice.org/

https://www.gimp.org/

There are many others out there that replace the overpriced big brand name ones.

What does the 1990s have to do with anything? Was using DOS based software then.

I bought Microsoft Office in 2010 when I retired. I got a hefty discount on it through my employer, I wanted to have it on my home computer in case my former co-workers had questions on stuff I had worked on. My records indicate that I bought a replacement (the WPS software) in 2017 when Office broke.

I was mostly using Lotus 123 up through 2016 or 2017, only used Microsoft Office once or twice a year until Lotus broke and I then had to switch all my data to Microsoft format. And I think I only used Office on a regular basis for less than a year until a Windows update broke that too. WPS software has been working fine since, although some of the updates caused some hickups. Bought a WIndows 11 computer a year ago, my old Windows 10 computer can't be upgraded to 11, it is now my travel computer.

Thanks, but WPS software is working fine, I see no need to change anything. I use a word processor maybe twice or three times a year. But have several spreadsheets that I use quite often.

I was surprised to learn a few years back that I could put a version of WPS on my Android phone too.

So it was about 7 years before the OS updates rendered this version incompatible. It might not suit you, but that is the compromise which allows the tech to move forward. My reference to the 90s was just to say that you can’t expect software to remain compatible with OS updates in the long term. 7 years is actually a pretty good run without any updates.